Night is falling
by Zoraya Windwalker
Summary: ...No wasted breath on how extinguishing whole towns probably counted as leaping as fast as vampirically possible over said line. ... So - this time the rating is NOT just to be on the safe side. There's a valid reason for the M! Please R&R .


Sooo… I managed to send my writers block packing! Yay me^^. Now, I have this oneshot for you, but treat carefully – it's not at all like the stuff I usually write. Quite on the dark and twisted side, I'm afraid. I still like it though, so I STILL present it to you guys.

Now, for this Oneshot I managed to get myTme onboard – as my beta of course^^. She did a real good job with it, AND worked fast… perfect mix for a beta, right? So, sweetheart: THANK YOU^^.

Disclaimer: I don't own anything 'bout TVD; I just play with them because it's too much fun to NOT do it.

On with it!

xoxoxoxoxoxoxoxoxo

_Well, shit._

That's the first thing he thought after setting foot into this newest ghost-town. Literally, as his very own version of Haley Joel Osment deigned to let him know.

The second thought? That he should have taught his brother to listen when someone told him _I don't want to finish transition_.

But that's something to contemplate at a later time and date. Maybe next week. Or century… millennia, preferably. Sighing – and not caring that it sounded tired and defeated in the worst way – he turned to Jeremy and Bonnie, waiting for what they had to say about their newest discovery. As predicted, he didn't have to wait long. The little ex-witch always had to add her two cents.

"… at least this time the streets aren't actually painted red with their blood."

It was a small comfort that the once so headstrong young woman sounded just as tired as him… sounded as if she, too, had over a hundred years and demons riding on her back.

"I don't think that counts if all the blood had been used to get a bunch of Hybrids on a high."

Yeah… little Gilbert had been hanging around him too long already, Damon could tell. But he just shrugged and went back to his car. There was nothing they could do here anymore. Nothing alive in a two mile radius around this town; apart from the occasional rat, roach and bug there weren't even animals left.

There was a time when he had thought of Stefan on human blood as bad. And sure, a ripped-apart human, put back together like a jigsaw puzzle was a sight to get used to but this utter nothing that got left behind by… _them_… was even worse. Not even bodies left to bury, because the wolves not only drank the blood, but ate the bodies as well; skin, hair, muscle and bone. They just left nothing.

It was the third town, ripped of all life they had found in as many months.

The first one had been red with congealing blood. Body parts lying haphazardly around like macabre décor.

In the second there were still a few bodies here and there. Now… nothing.

He shook his head to get rid of the images (as if he ever could, no matter how long he might still tread on this earth) as he heard Bonnie and Jeremy settle back in on the backseat and close the doors.

A few minutes later they were back on the road, only stopping four hours later as they reached a run-down motel to spend the night in.

He fell asleep as soon as his head hit the pillow; he usually had no problems falling asleep. He just dreaded it, for in his dreams the day that started all this haunted him, again and again. And this time was no different.

Xoxoxoxoxo

_Flashback/Dream_

_He had anticipated panic, anger, hurt or denial. Not her calm acceptance… though he should've probably guessed that she wouldn't make a fuss. This was _Elena_ after all, self-sacrificing martyr extraordinaire._

_What he _had_ guessed right was her refusal to finish transition._

_It was a sob-fest all around. Jeremy, Bonnie, Caroline and Matt pleading with her to change her mind, and Stefan just sitting in a corner, brooding like there was no tomorrow. And Damon was just standing somewhere to the side, chugging down glass after glass of… _something_… trying not to think or feel or doing anything even closely resembling being human. He was failing spectacularly of course; he was just really good at letting no one know. Hours later Elena had banned all of her loved ones (of his room, of all the places she could have chosen to hole up in), only letting him stay. It probably said something huge about her feelings, that she chose him to be her shoulder to die on, but he couldn't quite bring himself to rejoice over it… they were lying on his bed, sure; only this time it was _she_ who was dying, not him. He far preferred it the other way round, but then again, he never got what he wanted._

_Her heartbeat was growing fainter with every passing minute; sounding sluggish as if her blood was turning to molasses, too thick to properly pump through her veins. It hurt him to see her like this, but he also knew there was nothing he could do. She had decided; and, for once, he would bow to her and let her have her will. It was the right thing to do. God, how he _hated_ doing the right, damn thing!_

_He fell asleep to the unsteady thumping of her heart with the thought of how nice the sun would feel on his body (his ring conveniently forgotten on his bedside table) only to wake up to an enraged scream. And really, he should have known better. Never, _ever_ fall asleep with his brother, and someone he loved unwilling to transition in the same house. Hindsight always had been a bitch._

_But it was too late now. Elena was crouching on the far side of the room, blood smeared around her mouth, shooting death glares at his little brother; who in turn was just standing there, the remains of a half-empty blood bag in his hands._

_Damn, damn, God-damn it all! The little twerp had done it again!_

_But it was too late now, and they would have to live with the consequences…._

_End of Flashback/Dream_

_Xoxoxoxoxoxoxo_

He didn't even gasp as he woke up again. Just calmly opened his eyes to acknowledge that, yes, his dreams had once again brought him back to that dreaded night.

Yeah, they had to live with the consequences of his brothers' stupidity. And oh, what consequences they were!

At first it hadn't seemed so bad. Sure, Elena had locked herself away in solitude. That was about it. But one day he had noticed a change. Her once compassionate, brown doe-eyes had turned colder; just a little, just enough to notice, but still there. She started to come out of her room again, to talk to her friends and Jeremy again, and he had dismissed it as nothing.

And then, what used to be Tyler sauntered in the front door, menacing smile firmly set in place, eyes cold and calculating.

"_Ah, my lovelies! So glad to see you all well."_

That was all it took for them to realize that it wasn't Tyler, remarkably back from the dead, at all.

It had gone downhill from then on and suddenly the cold sparkle in Elena's eyes made sense.

The girl had died angry at Fate, and confused over which brother to love. So on the day she had found that switch deep inside her, she had flipped it, and the only thing remaining was anger, amplified a thousandfold. She had done a remarkably good job at pretending for awhile, but with Klaus back in the picture that act had flown out the window as well. The jackass was all too willing to help ease Elena into her new lifestyle. It probably tasted better than any revenge plan he could have cooked up himself.

The next week had been like a movie, put to fast-forward. The first one to end up permanently, true-dead was Stefan. He was the one to force the blood on her, to have her by his side for eternity; so he got to lose his own ever-after. Matt had been the second one to find his end… he _had_ been the one to drive off the bridge, after all.

Then the Council members dropped dead, one after the other. And there was nothing they could do but watch. Bonnie had lost her magic; probably for good, for the stunt she had pulled with Klaus; and was a mere, powerless human being now, unable to do anything. Jeremy was un_willing_ to try and hurt her. Elena was still his big sister, the only family he had left. No matter that she now was a murdering psychopath. Caroline had high-tailed it out of the city as soon as it was clear there was nothing to be done anymore, anyway.

Her mother was dead, as were most of her friends, the evil maniac that was Klaus wore her boyfriend like the newest fashion and she just couldn't stand it anymore.

When Klaus, Elena and their entourage of Hybrids had left, Bonnie, Jeremy and Damon were close behind. Always trying to keep up, hoping that once she had spent a little of her anger, Elena would come around and be… well, _Elena_ again.

Shaking his head, he threw off the blanket and got into the bathroom before one of the others beat him to it.

There was no use in contemplating the past. He couldn't change it. He had to look forward, try to change the things yet to come.

Xoxoxoxoxoxo

It was a good nine months later when they finally caught up with Elena. It had been exactly a year since the day she drowned in the stream under Wickery Bridge. He didn't believe in coincidence, and this seemed too much like one to be anything else than a planned meeting.

Today, she looked nothing like the sweet young woman he had known. Yes, her hair was still the same. He suspected that she wouldn't wear it in curls _ever_, in order to avoid being called Katherine (even though they had left the other Doppelganger with a wooden stake firmly lodged in her heart a few towns back.) Her eyes, still the same deep color, her face just as beautiful as it had always been… but there was no comparing vampire-Elena and human-Elena.

The one standing in front of him now was a predator. Eyes hard and cold, nails manicured to nearly resemble claws and lips painted blood-red, she looked like nearly every vampire's wet-dream.

Figures that he was the black sheep again, because everything her appearance did to him was making the bile rise up in his throat. This was never meant to happen. _Never_.

Jeremy was standing beside him, pleading with his sister to find the switch, to just turn her humanity back on. Bonnie was adding that they didn't care what she did in the past year. They would go to a town where no-one knew them, start anew and forget everything that happened. Everything would be _just fine_.

Elena cocked her head to the side, an oddly reptilian gesture that showed how much she didn't care about even _appearing_ human anymore. Honestly, the girl had turned out to be the perfect vampire. After the initial newness of everything had faded, and she had grown out of leaving carnage to spare in her taillights, she had turned into a truly magnificent being. If you went for cold, cruel, and merciless that is.

The woman in question ignored her brother and former best friend, eyes trained to his. Seeing her smile, he knew she could still read him like an open book, even though she had lost the ability to feel with and for him.

"So tell me Damon, is it true? If I just feel again, will we all go and play house? Live happily ever after?"

Her voice was soft, nearly a purr. Probably erotic for most other males but he just wished her to be a little insecure again, to huff in indignation at him. And as he looked back at her, he saw a truth in her eyes he hadn't wanted to accept until now. So he did the one thing he was good at: he said the one truth that hurt more than any lie ever could.

"No."

And that's all. No huge speech about how the Elena they all knew and loved was gone, dead the moment she had her first sip of human blood. No explanation about how there was no going back once you had stepped over the final line. No wasted breath on how extinguishing whole towns probably counted as leaping as fast as vampirically possible over said line.

He just said one word and sealed his own fate with it. Bonnie and Jeremy looked at him as if he'd grown a second head; Klaus (still wearing his Tyler-suit) just watched, mildly amused; and Elena threw a brilliant smile his way. It nearly looked like one she might have given a little over a year ago. Nearly, but not quite. It just wasn't right, without it reaching her eyes.

That smile still fixed in place, she slowly got closer to him and after a few steps, closed the distance in a blurring rush of speed.

The next moment she stood pressed up to him, breasts squashed against his chest, pelvis rocking tantalizingly against his, her lips so close he could already taste her on his.

But his body remained unimpressed, cold. And she knew it and didn't care. She just changed the smile into a wicked grin, caressing the side of her face (a caress worthy of a tigress, considering the bloody streaks her nails left behind), down his throat and finally resting her hand over his heart.

"So you don't love me anymore? Shame, that. You'd have made a formidable companion… once you'd have lost those peculiar human emotions, that is." She said it with a pout, red lips prettily pushed out, looking full and ripe. He wondered briefly if an apple had been Adam's downfall at all, or if the snake really talked him into stealing a kiss off of Eve's lips. But the thought was fleeting, and he soon – too soon – returned to the here and now. He was smiling too now, full of irony.

"Oh, I don't think I'll ever stop loving you. You hold my heart in your hands, little girl. But when it's this obvious, even I recognize a lost cause when I see it."

He then took the hand still lying on his chest, and pressed a quick kiss to the inside of her wrist, before returning it to its resting place.

There was a flicker of something in her eyes. Regret maybe, or longing. But it was not enough – not nearly so – to make him think there was a chance to safe _his_ Elena.

And then, with barely any movement on her side involved at all, her hand was suddenly not resting _on_ his chest, but _inside_ it. His eyes widened fractionally as her fingers squeezed around his heart, and he gave a hacking, short cough, spraying blood all over her face and expensive silk top. She didn't seem to care much. In fact, she licked a drop of his blood off her lips and momentarily closed her eyes as if tasting some especially tasty treat.

Yes, he had been right. Elena was lost to them. She was now at home amidst blood and death, a goddess of carnage and lust. He chuckled at that thought, finding the thought oddly amusing, for no apparent reason. The sound of his amusement ended abruptly as she yanked her hand out where it was buried, his heart coming with it. He blinked a few times, faintly hearing the screams of Bonnie and Jeremy, but not caring anymore. The only thing he had eyes and ears for was Elena, standing there with his fucking heart literally in her hand, looking like she was having the time of her life.

He sank to his knees, vision going blurry, blood rushing in his ears (weird, considering it couldn't technically rush without his heart,) and felt at peace. He had waited for his final death for over a century and now his wish had finally been granted. When everything, finally, turned black, he thought it was a good picture to take with him: Elena, strong and powerful and oh-so-beautiful, even in all her evil glory. And then, night was falling, and he embraced it with open arms.

The End

Xoxoxoxoxoxoxoxo

Sooo… what do you think? I should probably go and hide somewhere now, but I'm honestly curious about what you think about my stint to the dark side. So, just leave me a few words; nice or not, everything that's constructive is VERY welcome!

So long

Zora


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